Sabine Ritter

{{Short description|German sociologist and politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sabine Ritter | office = Member of the Hamburg Parliament | image = | caption = Ritter at the Left Party Congress in 2025 | term_start = 2025 | term_end = | birth_date = 14 June 1968 | birth_place = Germany | death_date = | death_place = | party = Die Linke (since 2018) | children = | alma_mater = University of Hamburg | occupation = | birth_name = | constituency = | website = | other_party = SPD (2005) }}

'''Sabine Ritter''' (born 14 June 1968) is a German politician and sociologist. Since 2022 she has been the state chairwoman of {{Interlanguage link|Die Linke Hamburg|de}} in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, since 2024 deputy party chairwoman and since 2025 a member of the Hamburg Parliament.

== Biography ==

=== Education === After attending the {{Interlanguage link|Rudi-Stephan-Gymnasium|de}} in Worms, Ritter began studying to become a teacher of Protestant theology, Latin, and German at the University of Mainz in 1988, but she discontinued her studies. Instead, she completed an apprenticeship as a bookseller in Worms and then worked in an antiquarian bookshop in Hamburg. From 1997 to 2001, she studied sociology at the {{Interlanguage link|Hamburg University of Economics and Politics|de|Hamburger Universität für Wirtschaft und Politik}}, graduating with a diploma thesis on the discourse of violence in sociology. From 2002 to 2004, she pursued ''postgraduate studies in criminology'' at the University of Hamburg, graduating with a diploma in criminology. She then spent three years working on a doctoral dissertation about Sarah Baartman, which she defended at the University of Hamburg in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |title=Ausbildung Sabine Ritter, SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy, Universität Bremen |url=https://www.socium.uni-bremen.de/ueber-das-socium/mitglieder/sabine-ritter/lebenslauf/ausbildung/}}</ref>

=== Sociologist === From 2009 to 2011, Ritter was a lecturer at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg and an associate research assistant at the Heisenberg Professorship for "Europe and Modernity" at the University of Hamburg, working with {{Interlanguage link|Olaf Asbach|de}}. From 2011, she worked part-time as a lecturer at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Bremen, and from 2015 to 2021, she also served as dean of studies for the Faculty of Social Sciences. From 2021 to 2025, she was a full-time lecturer at the Bremen Institute of Sociology, where she was responsible for the modules "Sociological Thinking" and "Techniques of Academic Writing".<ref>{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |title=Berufliche Positionen, SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy, Universität Bremen |url=https://www.socium.uni-bremen.de/ueber-das-socium/mitglieder/sabine-ritter/lebenslauf/berufliche-positionen/}}</ref>

Ritter was a staff member of the department for life course, life course politics and social integration (working group Qualitative Methods and Microsociology) at the Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy ({{Interlanguage link|SOCIUM|de}}). Her research interests include discourse analysis, textbooks as archives and distributors of knowledge, issues of racism analysis and gender sociology, and the middle classes from a cultural sociological perspective.

In December 2024, she received the {{Interlanguage link|Berninghausen Prize|de|Berninghausenpreis}} for outstanding teaching from the University of Bremen.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=6 April 2025 |title=Berninghausenpreis für hervorragende Lehre verliehen, Universität Bremen |url=https://www.uni-bremen.de/universitaet/hochschulkommunikation-und-marketing/aktuelle-meldungen/detailansicht/berninghausenpreis-fuer-hervorragende-lehre-verliehen-1}}</ref>

=== Politician === Ritter was briefly a member of the SPD in 2005, and joined the Left Party in 2018. Until her election as co-state spokesperson in 2022, she was the party spokesperson for the Eimsbüttel district association.<ref name="abendblatt">{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |author=Jens Meyer-Wellmann |date=22 August 2022 |language=de-DE |title=Linke Hamburg: Dieses Duo will die Parteikonflikte der Linken schlichten |url=https://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article236213749/dieses-duo-will-die-parteikonflikte-der-linken-schlichten-hamburg-richtungsstreit.html}}</ref>

In the 2020 Hamburg state election, Ritter ran unsuccessfully in fifth place on the Left Party's list in the {{Interlanguage link|Rotherbaum – Harvestehude – Eimsbüttel-East|de|Wahlkreis Rotherbaum – Harvestehude – Eimsbüttel-Ost}} constituency.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |language=de |title=Kandidierende Wahlkreis Rotherbaum - Harvestehude - Eimsbüttel-Ost |url=https://www.die-linke-hamburg.de/wahlen/buergerschaftswahlen/2020/kandidierende/wahlkreise/wahlkreis-rotherbaum-harvestehude-eimsbuettel-ost/}}</ref>

In September 2022, Ritter was elected state spokesperson (together with {{Interlanguage link|Thomas Iwan|de}}) at the eighth party conference of the Hamburg state branch of the Left Party. She received almost 71 percent of the votes. Her election was supported by the more moderate and pragmatic group "Konkret Links" (Concrete Left).<ref name="abendblatt">{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |author=Jens Meyer-Wellmann |date=22 August 2022 |language=de-DE |title=Linke Hamburg: Dieses Duo will die Parteikonflikte der Linken schlichten |url=https://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article236213749/dieses-duo-will-die-parteikonflikte-der-linken-schlichten-hamburg-richtungsstreit.html}}</ref> In her acceptance speech, Ritter spoke out against what she considered half-hearted climate policy, patriarchy and class politics. She advocates for free public transportation and more housing, which, if necessary, should be created through expropriation.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |author=NDR |language=de |title=Hamburger Linke: Ritter und Iwan zum neuen Führungsduo gewählt |url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Hamburger-Linke-Ritter-und-Iwan-zum-neuen-Fuehrungsduo-gewaehlt,linkspartei188.html}}</ref>

At the ninth party congress in October 2024, Ritter was elected deputy chair of the federal party.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=3 April 2025 |language=de |title=Wahl des Parteivorstands |url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/parteitag/hallescher-parteitag-2024/hallescher-parteitag/wahl-des-parteivorstands/}}</ref>

Ritter was elected to the Hamburg Parliament in the 2025 Hamburg state election.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=3 April 2025 |language=de |title=Die Linke Fraktion Hamburg – Abgeordnete – Sabine Ritter |url=https://www.linksfraktion-hamburg.de/sabine-ritter/}}</ref> She serves as spokesperson for education, school, training and science policy within the Left Party parliamentary group.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=4 April 2025 |language=de |title=Die Linke Fraktion Hamburg – Abgeordnete – Sabine Ritter |url=https://www.linksfraktion-hamburg.de/sabine-ritter/}}</ref>

=== Personal life === Ritter lives in Hamburg. She is the mother of two adult children.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=20 September 2022 |language=de |title=Sabine Ritter - Profil bei abgeordnetenwatch.de |url=https://www.abgeordnetenwatch.de/profile/sabine-ritter}}</ref>

== Publications (selection) ==

* ''Facetten der Sarah Baartman: Repräsentationen und Rekonstruktionen der "Hottentottenvenus"'' Lit, Berlin 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-643-10950-7}} * ''Die Mitte als Kampfzone: Wertorientierungen und Abgrenzungspraktiken der Mittelschichten.'' Herausgegeben zusammen mit Nadine M. Schöneck. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2018, {{ISBN|978-3-8376-4034-2}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.socium.uni-bremen.de/ueber-das-socium/mitglieder/sabine-ritter/ Sabine Ritter] at {{Interlanguage link|SOCIUM|de}} * [https://taz.de/Hamburgs-Linke-in-der-Krise/!5879060/ Interview mit Sabine Ritter und Thomas Iwan] in der ''taz''

== References == <references /> {{The Left (Germany)}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritter, Sabine}} Category:Living people Category:1968 births Category:21st-century German women politicians Category:Members of the Hamburg Parliament Category:Die Linke politicians Category:German sociologists Category:University of Hamburg alumni